The Census of Medical Examiners' and Coroners' Offices
(MECO) is a compilation of data on the practices of these offices,
which are responsible for medical-legal death investigations. The data
cover information such as the prevalence of unidentified human remains
on record in medical examiners' and coroners' offices across the
country, record-keeping practices, and final disposition practices
such as burial, cremation, or other means. In addition, data were
gathered on FTE employees, contractors, and annual budgets. (more info)

The Census of Medical Examiners' and Coroners' Offices
(MECO) is a compilation of data on the practices of these offices,
which are responsible for medical-legal death investigations. The data
cover information such as the prevalence of unidentified human remains
on record in medical examiners' and coroners' offices across the
country, record-keeping practices, and final disposition practices
such as burial, cremation, or other means. In addition, data were
gathered on FTE employees, contractors, and annual budgets.

Guidelines for Applying for Restricted Data

Before you begin an application you will need the following information to complete the form

General Requirements:

appointment at research institution; appointment must be under the jurisdiction of the receiving institution

degree requirements (possibly doctorate)

Must be submitted:

project description

IRB approval

approved security plan

roster of research and IT staff who can access or view the data or computer where data are hosted.

confidentiality pledges for all people on roster

Some require:

CV's

A downloadable version of data for this study is available however, certain identifying information in the downloadable version may have been masked or edited to protect respondent privacy. Additional data not included in the downloadable version are available in a restricted version of this data collection. For more information about the differences between the downloadable data and the restricted data for this study, please refer to the codebook notes section of the PDF codebook. Users interested in obtaining restricted data must complete and sign a Restricted Data Use Agreement, describe the research project and data protection plan, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Any public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

Dataset(s)

Study Description

Citation

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Census of Medical Examiners' and Coroners' Offices, 2004. ICPSR20342-v3. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2011-04-14. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20342.v3

Scope of Study

Universe:
Medical Examiners' and Coroners' offices in the United
States

Data Types:
census/enumeration data

Data Collection Notes:

A new variable was added to the data set that contains the names of the offices. The data set will now be a restricted use study, with a public version having the office names blanked for confidentiality.

Methodology

Mode of Data Collection:
mail questionnaire,
Web-based survey

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Standardized missing values.

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release:2007-07-26

Version History:

2011-04-19 Minor edit made to documentation.

2011-04-14 This update contains a restricted use dataset that has the office names included in a new variable. The public use version contains this variable, but the office names have been removed for confidentiality

2010-11-22 The initial release contained truncated data. This update includes the full data set.

Download Statistics

Located within ICPSR, NACJD is sponsored by the
Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, and the Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

This website is funded through Inter-agency agreements through the Bureau of
Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of
the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its
components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation,
its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).